But For The Grace of God Part 1
Scripture: Prov. 12:2; Eph. 2:8; Gal. 2:20-21; Rom. 5:1-2; I Cor. 6:11
In my message last week titled “But for the Love of God”, I spoke about why understanding the love of God is so important and that when we use the phrase “For the love of God….” in moments of frustration or anger, not only do we minimize the true significance of what the phrase means, but we also disrespect our loving Father and the love He has bestowed upon His children. This morning we will examine another phrase. My initial plan was to follow last week message by focusing on how the grace of God is also used to express frustration and anger just like His love and name is. However, I was having a discussion with my brother and after that discussion I felt led to address grace differently. Over the next three weeks, I want to examine grace from the standpoint of how it is often used to suggest that God shows more love and compassion for some than He does for others. And for me, this is far more disrespectful to God than saying “For the Love of God” in frustration and anger because it’s a belief that God blesses some people while He lets other people suffer. The message title for the next three weeks will be, “But for the Grace of God.”
I cannot tell you the number of times that I have heard well-meaning Christians, when they see someone who is down on their luck or less fortunate than themselves, say “But for the grace of God go I.” What they are saying is that if it wasn’t for God’s grace, they could be just like that unfortunate person. What this tells me is that there is some misunderstanding about grace on the part of the Church and perhaps, some of you listening this morning. Before I go further, I want to ask you a few questions. If there is a storm and your house is spared while your neighbor’s house is badly damaged, was your house spared because God was gracious to you? If you get sick and recover while someone else gets the same illness and dies, is it because God showed grace and favor to you verses the other person? Now let’s make this extremely clear, if you believe, as many do, that God is control of everything, doesn’t that by default means that when something good or bad happens it’s because of His will? And when the outcome is good it’s because He showed grace and when the outcome is bad He withheld it? The answers to these questions are what I will be dealing with this morning and over the next couple of weeks. You see, with the questions I just asked, some people interpret God’s grace as His grace taking care of us in a way that it doesn’t for everyone else. That’s one end of the spectrum. But the other end can carry potentially heavy eternal consequences and that’s when we see God’s grace as a “get out of hell free card.” People who interpret God’s grace in this fashion tend to live their lives however they choose because they believe God’s love and grace covers all of their sinful actions. All they need to do when they sin - when they sin on purpose - is ask God for forgiveness and rely on His wonderful grace. The purpose of this short series is to share with you, through the word of God, what grace does for us and what it does not do for us.
The Encarta dictionary has several definitions for grace. The word is a form of address like addressing a duke or duchess; it also means elegance; politeness; generosity of spirit and what we do when we pray over our meals. But it has only one definition that fits Christianity: “the infinite love, mercy, favor, and goodwill shown to humankind by God.” This is the primary definition that I want you to focus on throughout the message. Grace (or favor) is a positive emotional reaction of admiration and/or approval to some form of relationship. God alone bestows the estimate and consequences of favor and grace upon man. Proverbs 12:2 says, “A good man will obtain favor from the LORD, but He will condemn a man who devises evil.” The word “favor” carries the same meaning as the word “grace.” Grace is uniquely God’s to give. Grace conveys the message of the ultimate defining character of God – that He lovingly and freely gives salvation to to all who ask through Jesus Christ. New Light, we need to understand that God’s grace flows out of His love for people, whether they are saved or not. We need to understand that God is free in giving salvation because He is not obligated, nor constrained by some inner necessity of moral merits of man who have earned it. We cannot earn salvation; it is a loving gift from God through His Son, Jesus Christ, by GRACE!
Grace, as used by Paul in particular as we will see shortly, underscores the fact that salvation is freely given by God to underserving sinners – which we were. And let me emphasize: we were sinners. When you read Paul’s letters, you see grace in several areas pertaining to our relationship with God. Because grace plays a crucial part in who we are as Christians, I find it difficult to understand how Christians, who say they understand grace, can say “by the grace of God I was spared from…” when expressing a thankfulness or relief when they see people they don’t believe had received God’s grace. I want to share with you just how important grace is in our lives so that moving forward from today when the temptation strikes to use that phrase, you will think about how you are presenting God to those who hear you use it. Let’s start with how grace impacts justification.
Grace in Justification: The act of justification (the grace of God absolving us of our sins) demonstrates the power of grace for it is in justifying sinners, rather than the morally praiseworthy saints, that God’s overwhelming desire to be gracious becomes abundantly clear. Both Jews and Gentiles, neither of whom could claim merited favor with God as a right, are in fact justified through the free gift of His grace. Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8) Also, when he wrote to the Church at Galatia, Paul wrote that it is impossible to earn justification through the Law of Moses. He says such justification is only available through the faith of Christ Jesus. He says that when we accept Jesus and get born again, we are dead to the law. In other words, how we live now has nothing to do with the law but with who we have become in Christ Jesus. He wrote in Galatians 2:20-21, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” Paul says “the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.” What he’s saying is that even though I have a body that wants to commit sin, I don’t live by its desires anymore because I now live by faith in Jesus. One more thing: Paul says I “do not nullify the grace of God.” How do we nullify or render powerless the grace of God? We do that by trying to live the way we used to before Jesus came into our lives. Paul says that when we do that, Christ died for nothing when He died for us. If righteousness, justification, or salvation come by observing the law, then the death of Christ was useless. But, since they do not come by the law at all, but by the death of Christ, then His death was a necessity and the law is useless as a means of salvation. Look at Romans 5:1-2.
It reads, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2) Before we accepted His gracious gift of salvation, we were God’s enemies and that’s why Paul writes that the justification that came with God’s gracious gift means that we are no longer at war with God. In First Corinthians chapter six Paul talks about how the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Then he lists examples of sins that would lead a person to hell. After listing the sins he writes the following in verse nine, “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11) Paul writes that some of those receiving his letters had participated in the sins he listed but were now saved. This should give us hope that regardless of our past, through the grace of God when we repent, we can receive forgiveness and salvation. Turn to Ephesians chapter two and we are going to examine how grace impacts salvation.
Grace for Salvation: In Ephesians we see that the greatest gift we will ever receive is salvation. This is a gift that can only be received through God’s grace and His grace alone. Ephesians 2:4-7 says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7)
I want to point out a couple of things about this verse. First, everything God does is done out of mercy and love. He holds all the cards but, because His love, mercy and abundant grace, He deals the salvation card to every single person who asks for it. New Light, when it comes to salvation, God never turns anyone away. The second thing I want you to see is that when we accepted God’s gracious gift, He gave us a seat next to Jesus in heaven! Think about that New Light. Spiritually, you are rubbing elbows with Jesus! What does that mean? What He did while He was on earth, we can do. Now, I’ll explain it this way: Jesus, because of His relationship with His Father, did not allow anyone or anything to deter Him from achieving His dream, which revolved around doing what God wanted Him to do. Do you really believe that it is different for us today?
Before I move away from these verses, I want to call your attention to what Paul wrote in verse five. He said, “even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” (Vs. 5) There are three kinds of death in Scripture. The first death is physical which is the separation of the inner man from the body. James says, “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” (James 2:26) The second death is spiritual death which is separation from God because of sin. Isaiah wrote, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2) But through God’s grace, a person can go from this death to eternal life by saying “yes” to Jesus. Finally there is eternal death which is eternal separation from God because man chooses to remain separated from God in sin even though grace is available to him. John wrote in the book of Revelations, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-15)
I want you to understand this as it relates to grace and salvation. Death in all of Scripture means a separation from the purpose for which one was created, never annihilation or extinction of being. This is important because there are people who believe that this physical life is who we are and all that we have. They believe once this body dies, life ceases to be – there is no afterlife. In their belief, when they die they become extinct because they no longer exist. This is not what is taught in the word of God. The Bible teaches separation – not extinction. When our spirits leave this physical body we transition to another realm in the spirit. Physical death is separation of the inner man from the body. Only the physical body dies at this time and goes back to dust. The spirit and soul are eternal and are either dead in sin or in possession of eternal life in Christ at the time of physical death. In either case, they continue in consciousness whether in heaven or hell. And we see this when Jesus talks about Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16:19-31. This is why salvation so greatly important – we live on after this physical body dies but where we live is totally dependent upon our response to God’s amazing grace in this life! So let’s examine grace as it relates to sin because many will use God’s grace as a permission slip to continue in sin without consequence.
Grace and Sin. We need to understand that grace is the opposite to sin. It denotes God’s free act in Christ of overcoming sin and His free act in forgiving personal sin. The sin that Christ overcomes when we accept God’s grace for salvation is not only personal sinfulness, but sin as the prevailing power that currently dominates the world we live in. Now what do I mean by this? When we see things happen that do not agree with what God declares in the Bible we are seeing the effects of sin. Sin manifests itself as a “law of sin and death.” Paul wrote in Romans chapter eight, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1-4) What is the law of sin and death? First, let’s separate this from personal sin. The law of sin and death is talking about what Adam unleashed when he rebelled against God in Genesis 3. Sin leads to death and the law was powerless to control sin. The law could not control the flesh because sin already had control of it before the law came.
I want you to see what was recorded in Galatians chapter three and this is where we will close part one. Let’s begin reading at verse nineteen. “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made. Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. (Galatians 3:19-23) I want to reiterate the second part of verse twenty-one. It says, “For “if” a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.” The Law of Moses could not impart life. Not only could the Law of Moses not impart life, it could not justify us; free us from sin and death; or free us from condemnation. It could not redeem us; or give us an inheritance; or bring righteousness or impart the Holy Spirit. These are just a few of the things the law could not do for us. Oh but for the grace of God! If the law could bring righteousness and life, then justification would be by the law. Scriptures of the prophets as well as the law itself declares all to be sinners and imprisoned under the sentence of death until that sentence is executed upon them; that the promise of life by faith might be given to those who believe when Christ paid their penalty.
We will continue this message next Sunday, but before I close I want to take you back to the questions I asked at the beginning about how people view God’s grace as evident when something good happens to them versus when something bad happens. Now, did any of the Scriptures that we read today give you any indication or impression that God’s grace is given selectively based on the individual? Did you read anything in Scripture that said that you had to earn God’s grace and that when someone was suffering it was because that person had less of God’s grace than someone else? Did you see anything in what we read that would tell you that on your good days you have more of God’s grace than you do on your bad days? Here is my point and I will drive this home again next week. God’s grace is active and it’s powerful. It is available to all, especially to His children. Why do I call this out? Because we know that God is gracious to those who have yet to accept Him because He desires that they come into knowledge of Him. That being said, He is not doing that selectively. Anyone who calls on Him and accepts His Son as their personal Savior will be the recipient of eternal life. It is a free gift because of God’s amazing grace.
As the song writer wrote, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I am found, was blind, but now I see.” I will continue next week. God bless.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
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